Cooperative Quest: Find Chell
by RisuQ-theQissilent
Summary: <html><head></head>After being launched into space, Atlas and P-body discover Wheatley and decide to help him meet back up with Chell. Along the way, they will learn what "Cooperation" really means, and maybe become a little more human along the way...</html>
1. So We're in Space

So I says to myself one day, "why the F-berries are there no ATLAS and P-body fanfics?" then I become disgusted with myself for asking such a question. Fanfics were for when I was in the middle school, watching Cyborg 009. And wanting more. Much more. (shudders) Not for now when I am in the Colleges. I make myself sick.

To those out there who are around my age and do partake in such things, good job. You have maintained yourselves and have not lost sanity. (also, I'm sure you are much better writers than I am) Please ignore my angst. And hipocracy. And horsedoodles.

Rated for mostly my own swearing.

Aperature Science laboratories was a massive building. So massive that the preceding sentence should be deleted, as it does not do descriptive justice. The facility even decided to break all holds on "massive" and confine itself underground. How far underground? Only AS would know.

As much as GLaDOS liked the wealth of space AS contained, when it comes to finding the very test subjects one set out to do tests, it kinda sucked. And for the life of Her, GLaDOS thought she knew everything there was to know about this facility. She also thought she knew the very nature of her two co-operative test subjects, [subject name] and [subject name]. Hmm… She would fix that name problem soon. Her concern right now would be finding out where the two went.

They couldn't have gotten far. She only turned her circuitry for a nanosecond and the two were gone. She wasn't even sure how in the world it happened. They disappeared in her own room. She wasn't even quite sure how it was physically possible. The only thing left of them was the fat blue one's portal, which shimmered a light blue, indicating unuse.

The massive robotic body suspended from the ceiling, hung by wires and other machinery. Her body still creaked from the time of…she would rather not recall. She craned her bulky body around, giving the room another clean sweep. Nothing. She searched her electronic signal radars. Nothing. She activated the built-in explosives and waited for the sound of bursting robotic parts. Nothing still. She switched on all the working camera feeds and decided to look manually for them. Nothing, only this time due to the maintenance bots having neglected their jobs. She would fix that soon as well. She sighed irritably.

Yes, she had The Itch too, but unlike a certain [word discarded], she would not be controlled, and she would remain calm, even though she had no test subjects. And the machine that builds them only does so when they "die." If they were indeed "dead," then the machine was not doing its job. And she had no test subjects.

She paused thoughtfully. There were so many things around the laboratory that needed "fixing." She was going to have her hands(?) full.

She would worry about the two robots later. They, like her, were trapped in the vastness of the Aperature science building with no way out. Unlike a certain pair of troublemakers who were long gone by now… GLaDOS swung her massive body around again, almost as if hoping they would be standing there, looking idiotic and tangible.

They were not.

Passive-aggressive anger welled up inside of her.

Fine. She could play at that.

[Orange has been deducted 1,000 aperature science collaboration points]

[Blue has been deducted 5,000 aperature science collaboration points]

There. That would show them.

She decided to leave the portal there. Wherever they were, they would likely use that to come back. She hoped, menacingly.

GLaDOS wandered off in search of things to "fix." Wherever the two of them were, they had better have been doing science.

As a matter of fact, the two of them, Atlas and P-body, were not at all doing science. Not quite. And in GLaDOS's search of her own room, she had neglected to look up and see the giant gaping hole showing the moon to where the duo had escaped.

They floated in space, wondering how it all even happened. It just went so fast. One bet involving the moon, portals, and GLaDOS's room later, and they were sucked out into the void of space, with their way back gone, due to the flailing of limbs and misdirected portal shots. Nonetheless, they had been there for quite some time in front of the moon, drifting slowly away.

P-body narrowed her eye at her masculine companion. Not that it was entirely his fault, but he did his fair share of screwing them both over. Her metallic stick-like arms crossed over her peapod-shaped body, a single orange eye glaring intently.

A blue eye glared back. Its owner was what looked like a silver sphere attached to a network of wires and various metallic strips composing his limbs. With a blue eye. He arranged his arms so that his hands rested on what "hips" he had. He sighed inaudibly in response to her glare. Sure, he was the one who made the bet in the first place (and put science points on the line for it, dammit), but he wasn't the one to actually do it. Atlas continued to glare.

P-body floated sideways a bit, before becoming more disgruntled. Stupid science points. Stupid Atlas. If she wasn't worried about the frictionless nature of the space they were floating in, she would have ripped off Atlas's body-piece and flung it. She never should have bet that there was no way a portal could make it to the moon. Especially from earth. Now she was down her science points and she and Atlas were stuck in space. Great.

She beeped at Atlas with a series of computerized noises, telling him that if they ever made it back, she would be sure to dismantle him before GLaDOS got the chance to. These noises were not heard, however, due to space being space-y. She switched on her built-in radio to communicate (read: bitch) more productively.

Atlas rolled his eye and shrugged. Whatever. They could get back.

P-body's glare intensified. How? Both their portal devices were launched out into space faster than they were. She saw no way to get them back, either. What would they do now? Go back through the portal she had placed? Oh that's right. Atlas broke that too. Burn up in Earth's atmosphere? P-body doubted they would come back from that. Drift endlessly in space for all time? That's probably going to be the ONLY thing they do, unless space debris beats the circuits out of them.

Atlas watched his companion describe their situation with furious movements. She was pissed, and as GLaDOS would have put it, like a human. His thoughts drifted. He wondered why GLaDOS hated them so… The only things she ever told them were vague and deleted before explaining. He wondered what the human that took her down looked like.

Noticing Atlas's absolute lack of attention on the present situation drove her off the deep end. She dove at Atlas, ready to rip his stupid face from his body in a vicious manner.

Atlas, sensing impending doom, did his best to roll out of the way. He did not try hard enough, as P-body still collided with him and sent them both spiraling away from the moon.

Great! Now any chance they DID have on returning was now moving away from them at an alarming rate. Atlas glowered at P-body, who in turn glowered back.

But, P-body, regaining herself, let go of his face/body and held onto his shoulder to keep them from drifting apart. If they were going to get anywhere or do anything, it would have to be as a team. They had been through so much already as a unit, now was not the time to bicker endlessly to themselves until they slowly deactivated.

Atlas settled down as well. It might have been partially his fault for egging her on, but they were…friends….so they needed to stick together.

Both thought long and hard on any idea they could use to get back to the lab. Minutes went by, and turned into hours.

Finally, Atlas let out a sigh that would have been heard, if not for the vacuum of space and the lack of any source of air to send through his conditioning unit. Without a portal device, not much could be done. Even WITH a portal device, there was a doubt they could get close enough to the moon to use it. And how could they get back to earth from space? It's not like they could just pop a portal onto the earth's crust from the moon and presto! Be home.

Both Atlas and P-body exchanged tired and worried looks.

Silence, via radio, was silent yet again, and would have stayed that way unless another signal hadn't been picked up right then and there.

Both perked up, straining to get a better "listen."

"…"

They glanced at each other. It was a soft, and fuzzy noise at first. It began to get louder and louder until-

"!"

In case you haven't noticed, Dialogue and I aren't very close.

I'm not actually planning on a romance between Atlas and P-body, unless I learn to write that kind of stuff better. Or am supported. By my peeps.

Another note! I honestly don't care whether you review. I just want to know that this asinine piece of Horseshit has actually been read. And if it has, seek therapy.

But if there are any reviews, it'd be nice if they could help me out by pointing out any plot holes. I do so hate those very much.


	2. Reunion

A/N: you guys have no idea how happy I was when I checked my computer had found reviews. I CRIED. It was pathetic, and yet I was so amazed people read it, and then took their time to write down what they thought.

And then I've been watching the traffic stuff on my profile, and this story has even been read around the world? (I'm talking about you, "Isle of Man" and "Trinidad and Tobago")I was taken aback. Because that is awesome.

Ok, enough with that, yall are super special awesome, just don't let it get to your head. Enough horsedoodles, let do this.

A speck in the distance hurdled towards the duo, creating a sonic wave of radio noise.

"!"

Atlas and P-body quickly exchanged glances. This would not be good.

As the speck came closer, more details could be made out. The speck seemingly was composed of two familiar-looking orbs held together by what looked a lot like PORTAL DEVICES!

Atlas and P-body sprung into action. Forget the spheres, and the radio screech, they HAD to get those two guns back.

"WE'RE IN SPAAAAACE! SPACE!"

The two bots braced themselves for impact with the screaming junk. While screams of "SPACE!" encompassed the majority of what they heard, another, familiar british voice piped up.

"I KNOW we're in space, mate. We've been here for more than-OHMYGODWHAT ISTHATTHINGCOMINGTOWARDS-"

The collision, if had been in a normal gravitated state, with normal friction, and normal air, might've sounded like a tin can's first meeting with a meat grinder, but under the circumstances, it was quite anti-climactic.

P-body and Atlas were thrown backwards by the force of the impact. They sailed along with what they had caught, spinning and holding each other, too afraid to let go or lose the other. Or the precious portal devices. They could never really come to a stop, but they could try to stop spinning. And they did so.

Atlas tilted and flung himself an opposite way, which neutralized their spin. He rolled his eye and shook his body in its holster as P-body did the same to reorient themselves.

Their attentions were focused now on what they had held. By some kind of incredible luck, the two spheres were joined together by their discarded portal devices, and were quite tangled in the mess. Atlas yanked his portal gun free, effectively solving the problem, as P-body grabbed at hers. They each stared intently at the two spheres, now known to both as personality cores.

The one they had heard screaming, had a large yellow eye dead center, and continued to let out excited gasps and twitches. It shook and vibrated and spouted phrases about space. It was interesting for the first minute or so, but after listening to it almost shatter their radio transceivers and not shut up, Atlas was ready to rip its eye out. P-body stopped him, and pointed at the other.

It was faced away from them, but by the look of it, in bad shape.

P-body elbowed Atlas and pointed. It was Wheatley, the one who had awoken them to their first days. The same one who became kind of a big douche as he subjected them to his moronic and terrifying tests. What they had seen because of him could never be unseen, no matter how many reboots they could go through.

Wheatley himself seemed to be making quite a show of trying to ignore the two bots. The last thing he wanted was more memories of how he became monstrous and tried to kill-he frantically shook his eye plates. He needed that memory gone. He would never see her again, yet she would still linger in his mind. He muttered to himself and shook back and forth, floating along with the group. In any case, the two robots, no matter how simple they were had to at least been somewhat sore to see the thing that had caused them trauma back in the facility.

P-body picked him up and shook him.

"AUGH!" Wheatley screamed through the radio. "Stop that this instant!"

P-body complied, and turned him so he faced both her and Atlas. They stared expectantly at him, while holding their respective portal devices at their sides.

"I-I..uh..well…" Wheatley looked sheepishly up at them, remembering what he had put them through. The torturous chambers of his own idiotic design, the turrets he used unendingly, the gel paints, oh dear God, the gel paints…funny, most of this all happened within the span of a few hours. But Wheatley could tell by their silent glares that they had indeed not forgotten. "Hmm…well, you see, I…" Wheatley became more nervous. He was never really all that good under pressure. Then again, the situation appeared quite ironic: space had no pressure. He archived that irony for later enjoyment. Wheatley looked the other bots in the eyes. They looked like they were getting impatient.

"SPACE! BA BA BA BA BA!" The space core interrupted the tension with one of its songs.

"Now's not the time, mate…" Wheatley muttered under whatever breath cores had.

The space core ignored him, like always. It cart wheeled around the three others and began to sing louder.

Atlas became annoyed. He did not know what the emotion was called; he had never felt it before, and yet he felt it rise up inside of him. If he did not take care of the nuisance, he would pop a circuit.

The space core didn't seem to mind, and continued its shenanigans."Space space space space. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Space."

Atlas decided that right then was a lovely time to snap. And so he did. He launched himself forward and caught the nuisance.

"SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE~" it responded, unfazed by Atlas's obvious aggression.

With one swift leg movement, the sphere was punted away from the group at a high velocity. Its noises soon faded as its radio signal fizzled out. Atlas hoped he would never have to deal with such bullshit again. But the sphere was gone, and so was most of the resentment directed at it. He returned his gaze back to Wheatley, who was still capable of being resented at.

For such a core that had gotten so corrupted [pun archived] and evil at the time, Wheatley sure was quaking with fear. P-body wondered thoughtfully. Was it because it was afraid of the two of them? (more than likely after Atlas's actions, it scared P-body a bit too.) Or maybe overcome with guilt? P-body did not know what that felt like, but watching the once massive core shiver and shake in their towering presence sent a thought of sympathy through her system. She gently patted Wheatley on the head in a reassuring manner.

Atlas protested at her actions; this was the same core that sent them through hell and beyond. He was cut off by P-body reminding him that he was based off a personality core, and that it made the two almost brothers.

Atlas stared at her, with a look of horror mixed with disgust. She ignored him and urged Wheatley on. She asked how he managed to get himself stuck in a vast place.

Wheatley felt a bit more at ease from that interaction. "Well, as you both are fully aware of, I'm sure, well, you were there at the time, so yes, you are aware. I was what I suppose She is now… Terrible, destructive…murderous…" Wheatley paused, fighting the suppressed memories of…her. "We fought. The lady 'n' me. She won. She shot a portal on the moon, it sucked us both out. But She grabbed her…and pulled her back in…I haven't seen her since…" Wheatley closed his eye lids. "I'm better now. Not-not just because I've been floating in space! I know what I've done and I regret it! Terribly. Terribly I do…"

Atlas stared down at Wheatley. He DID feel some connection to the little guy, not because of model (hell no) but because of that guilt. Atlas at this point felt more responsible in launching both him and P-body out into space, and felt terrible about it. More so than the time he disengaged the light bridge from underneath P-body's feet and caused her to fall into liquid acid and explode. Good times. In any case, his tension was relieved, a bit.

P-body listened better than her round companion did. She felt more sympathy towards Wheatley than anyone may have in the last week or so. (considering the company he kept, there wasn't much of a competition) She did, however, want to know what had the core so broken up about though.

"The…lady…a nice lady, actually. I woke her up maybe a month ago; looked like a mess, but then again she WAS in stasis, so you couldn't really blame her…ah. Um. She was also the same human who took Her down the first time. Impressive, no? I had no idea at the time, if we hadn't have stumbled upon Her then, maybe I wouldn't have ever known. Oh well, small world init?" Wheatley stopped. He was rambling again. Was that part of his programming? To ramble on when nervous? Maybe he was a moron.

"Chell. That was her name. She was…amazing. The best thing that had happened to me since I was booted hundreds of years ago. Even if nothing actually happened during that time until she came along; to me, still, she was everything. And….I threw it all away for power. Power for what? Stuck out here in bloody space!"

P-body inquired casually if the emotion of "love" humans were known for was what he was talking about.

"wha-what? N-no! of course not! I was not built for such a thing! I only meant that as far as humans go, that lady was an interesting specimen and how foolish I was to have thrown it all away for a sake that was most unscience and whew, was she smart and pretty—by human standards—not that I would know or anything! But not to the testing facility! No sir, it's good that she's gone, right? She IS gone, correct? Of course, She must have kept up Her end of the bargain. That's good. Well I hope that lady is living a nice life right now let's stop talking about this now. "

Wheatley abruptly ended the feed, but noticed the portal guns, and started it back up. "Oh! Those are portal guns! Brilliant! You took them with you! We can get back to earth with those! You can take me with you and we can find Chell!" He froze. "No… not without a portal left on the earth, and even then…the vacuum of space won't let us back in…" Wheatley closed his eye, thinking hard.

Atlas and P-body exchanged glances. They followed Wheatley's example and continued to think. Not that it would help much, since they'd already been doing some sort of thinking before Wheatley had shown up.

Bored, Atlas stared at his portal gun. He remembered when he first got it. GLaDOS dangled it high above his head and made him jump for it. His legs weren't made properly, so when he fell back down, they snapped. Then She said something about him being a worthless prototype. Then he exploded. It was a most unpleasant experience. Come to think of it, most of the experiences involving him from the time of his awakening up until now were not pleasant. The only ones he could think of were when he and P-body were alone, and free from Her eyes. He forced himself to focus. Honestly he wasn't helping much, not that any of them were… Suddenly, Atlas noticed on his gun that one of his portals was activated. A jolt of hope sparked into his head. He looked wildly around to see if maybe the portal was around—which it wasn't. Vaguely he remembered letting loose a portal back at the laboratory shortly before P-body flung them into space.

He elbowed P-body and ecstatically explained what he thought they could do. P-body glowed with excitement. They could go back to earth now!

"Bloody brilliant!" Wheatley chimed in. "Quick, float to the surface of the moon and pop a portal there!"

Atlas stared down at him. Did the core think he was off the hook, and he and P-body would help him out of his spacey torture? Atlas crossed his arms, and prompted P-body to do the same. She complied, thinking nearly the exact same thing as Atlas.

"What? We haven't a moment to spare, let's go!" Wheatley continued, pleadingly.

Atlas looked from to small core to P-body, then back to him. He wondered if he would betray them like he did that human, and why would they even help him if he had been so mean to them.

"What? What are you talking about!" Wheatley stammered and shook his optic furiously. "I will never ever ever betray someone again like that. Or any time! I went mad! I was bloody bonkers!" he softened. "You two have no idea how terrible I feel. It's…killing me. I'm sorry about what I put the both of you through, truly I am. But I need to find her. I have to make things right. You two are the only ones who can help me. If not, I'll be stuck out in space forever, with no company but the bloke who just drifted away, forever at war with the insatiable guilt I still feel. To her, and to you both."

P-body was affected by his display of emotion. Atlas was not. He narrowed his optic at the small sphere, but P-body nudged him, letting him know that they should indeed trust Wheatley. And if he showed any signs of general douche-baggery, they could easily mangle his tiny body and parade it around as a birthday(?) present to GLaDOS.

Wheatley shuddered. "Ah. Right. Okay. I'll just make a uh, mental note then. 'Do not betray. Ever.'" He got the point. "What do you say, will you help me?"

P-body wondered what would be in it for her and Atlas. After all, they were about to risk a lot for the sake of a core that had just months ago been a source of terrible memories and experiences.

"…Adventure…?" Wheatley offered weakly. Honestly he had nothing to offer the two in his condition, and even if he got back to the lab, he had nothing there either. The two robots before him would have to help him out of sheer charitibility. He wasn't sure that they were capable of such a thing. They WERE built by Her, after all…

Atlas stared intensely at Wheatley. Adventure? He liked that. He immediately accepted.

P-body saw the excitement in Atlas's optic and movements. Not one to rain on his parade, she sighed and turned to Wheatley. Yes, they would help him out. But they were going to have to do something about getting back from the void of space, and then deal with GLaDOS in her chamber. Not to mention actually LEAVE the facility.

If he could have, Wheatley would have paled. Instead, his optic pupil shrank and began shaking. "H-her? You're kidding aren't you? No…no you're not, are you? Oh dear, no you aren't…" Wheatley began to whine. If there was anyone who hated him with the white-hot intensity of a thousand burning suns, it was Her. And She was not someone he wanted to meet back up with. He knew full well how many different ways She could destroy him, and make them all last forever, the pain of it all neverending. She was a bitch like that. But for Chell, he would do it. He would face GLaDOS in her own domain for Chell. Yup, he was going to be brave this time, and not back down or be afraid. Somehow, he and these two bots were going to break out of Aperature Science, escape from the clutches of Her and find Chell! He felt bold and brave, and turned to Atlas and P-body to tell them he was ready to go.

The moon must've snuck up on them, it was so close, and they were standing on the surface, with P-body holding onto Wheatley. He didn't even feel it happen. Suddenly he didn't feel very brave anymore.

Atlas signaled them to be ready; they were going to have to fight against the pull of space to get in and fight it again once in.

"Uh…" Wheatley began, concern raging inside of him.

It happened very fast. Atlas's portal was shot at their feet, and in an instant the two bots and the core flung themselves into it, landing in the facility. Before the vacuum could suck them back out, Atlas fired off a dark blue portal on the other side of the wall, sealing them in.

As they reoriented themselves, a familiar wave of passive-aggressive hate hit them like a sack of cubes.

GLaDOS's giant body turned around slowly. She glared down at them and then finally spoke.

"Oh. You're back."

Her yellow optic eyed Wheatley. Her expression by that point was unreadable, but the entire room knew what she was thinking.

"So tell me, how did you find that? I'm _dying_ to know."

A/N: I got a request on one of my other stories for an ATLAS/P-body smut fic. I ask you: How? The only possible way I could do that is by turning them both human, as in their robot forms they have no naughty bits, and no suspicious orifices that can be used for…look, it won't work. I would love to, since all the M rated things are GLaDOSxChell (and I'm honestly not a fan of that pairing) and there is currently a lack of P-bodyxATLAS fics. (there is a mini comic up on DA that sorta raises that question. Go check it out. It's so hilarious. XD) I'll try to figure something out, I guess.

Anyway, thank you for reading! I appreciate all your comments, and ask that you leave one so I can know how I'm doing, or if this story has even gained any sort of interest. (So I'll know it's safe to continue writing, assuming the eyes of my viewers have not been permanently destroyed.)


	3. New Temporary Mission: Survive

The atmosphere was tense. The previous statement was an understatement of the truth. The atmospheric tension was, in fact, so thick that it could be cut with a knife.

Wheatley was the first one to break the silence. "So…Hey, um…Long time no see, wow, you look great. Love what you've done with your…um, wires, very hang-y today. So, uh listen…Terribly sorry about putting you into a potato, and taking control of the lab, and subsequently destroying it, and truly, truly I am," Wheatley rattled on, oblivious to the annoyance of the highest lethal kind was plastered on GLaDOS's face-core. "But, it's been great, it really has been great, uh, catching up, but I have to leave now. Y'know, don't wanna make waves or anything. Oh, and I'll be taking these two with me; I don't exactly have legs to use now do I? So yeah, leaving now, taking these two, and goodbye."

GLaDOS ignored him. "You know, I'm glad you came back. I had thought about it for a while, and it just didn't seem fair to let you live alone in space for all this time."

"R-really?" Wheatley piped.

Atlas and P-body exchanged quick glances. Was Wheatley really this ignorant? They honestly hoped not, because they were going to need him.

"Yes." Came GLaDOS's eerily quiet reply. She was looking right at him. "At first, I thought to myself that I would let you spend a year in the incinerator, the next year in the cryogenic refrigeration wing, and then ten years in the room where the robots scream at you. And then I would kill you."

Wheatley began to shake. "O-oh. Well what-"

He was abruptly cut off by a panel on the wall next to the trio slamming down, only inches away from P-body's arm. "But that seems too good. Too simple. You're here now though, so I'm sure I can concoct something a little more…_fitting_." She added the last part with as much emphasis as possible.

Wheatley began to babble incoherently. Atlas looked to P-body. Well this was great. Now they were screwed.

GLaDOS turned to Atlas and P-body. They both gave a start and appeared frightened. "Yes. You two. You've been most…helpful…"She strained trying to get the last word out. "But I'm afraid it's back to testing for you both. Drop the idiot and prepare to be forcibly dismantled and transported."

Atlas looked to P-body as she did the same. This was it. They hadn't even gotten the chance to have their adventure, or escape. And now they would spend the rest of an eternity testing again and again. Didn't GLaDOS ever notice how proficient they were getting, and that each test they took was solved quicker and quicker with less deaths each time? They had no time to object or think any further; GLaDOS initiated their "dismantling" with a soft BEEP.

They closed their optics, waiting for each body to be blown apart.

Silence.

BEEP.

More silence.

BEEP BEEP.

Atlas and P-body eased their optics open. Wheatley looked up at them in confusion. Where was the explosion?

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

And still nothing.

"Hmm…that's odd. You two haven't explode-been dismantled." Came GLaDOS's reply. She herself was terribly confused and attempted to hide said confusion. "Well good. That will save the maintenance robots a task. So, Listen. Just leave the moron on the floor, and lie down while I try to fix this."

P-body glanced at Atlas. Yeah right. As if they were Wheatley.

The floor panel behind them began to shake.

"Uh…" Wheatley pointed out.

With expert agility neither bot knew they had, they dodged the blow of the panel, which came down with such force that it cracked the panel below it.

"Augh!" Wheatley screamed in shock. "We could've-oh wait. That's the point, isn't it?"

P-body smacked her forehead(?) with her hand in frustration, effectively dropping Wheatley.

"Ah! Pickmeup! Pickmeup!" Came Wheatley's scream from the floor.

GLaDOS glanced down. A robotic arm descended from the ceiling to procure the shouting core.

Atlas sprung into action and slid across the floor, picking up Wheatley inches away from the dangling arm.

"Blue has been deducted 2,000 Science collaboration points. See what you're doing to yourselves?" GLaDOS stated, frustration evident.

P-body beeped loudly at Atlas and motioned to an open door. They needed to escape before they were maimed, or killed. Or anything worse, for that matter, this WAS GLaDOS they were beeping about, after all.

Atlas scrambled to his feet and followed P-body through the door just as it slammed shut.

GLaDOS was speechless. With fury. She couldn't even put a scratch on the damn things the entire time they were here. (with exceptions) that was unheard of! First, they leave the facility while not accomplishing any science, they bring back that moronic piece of trash tumor, she can't destroy them for some strange reason, and now the insolent things were running around her facility. Somehow Blue and Orange had gotten a lot more coordinated and skilled. Not to mention quicker, smarter, and somehow more…human. How would they have been able to do such things? The test chambers wouldn't have influenced such a growth in skill unless…This would not do. GLaDOS logged herself onto the internet and tried to look up a word in any language that described how much anger she felt.

There was none.

"Hey you two, I have an idea that might get us out of here." Wheatley whispered to the two as they ran down the corridor.

P-body looked down at the small sphere. Wasn't he a moron built for the express purpose of making bad decisions? She turned to Atlas, who shrugged, suggesting the same thing.

"I'm right here mates…" Wheatley pointed out, rather hurt.

P-body and Atlas dodged another smasher and a row of well-placed turrets, who bid them a 'hello' before attempting to rip them full of more holes than swiss cheese. P-body urged him to finish his idea, while portaling the turrets through the air ("Ahhhhhh!" "I don't hate you…" "Whyyyy?").

"Right, well, it's bloody dangerous, and it could—oh! Nice evasion—k ill you, so you might want to shut off your…ears…." Wheatley finished.

Atlas rolled under a row of lasers and sidestepped yet another smasher. He looked at P-body. What were ears?

P-body looked as lost as Atlas.

"Um…. How about this: whatever you use to hear what I say, turn that off. And keep them off until I give the signal that it's ok." Wheatley confirmed.

Atlas and P-body immediately complied, much to Wheatley's surprise; he thought it would have taken longer. He pushed the thought aside, and called to GLaDOS.

"Hey lady! I got something I wanna say!" Wheatley called as P-body passed him to Atlas. "It's bloody important, and you should really listen to it."

"Nothing you have to say is important, moron." Came the cold reply as another panel smashed in front of Atlas and Wheatley.

"I AM NOT A-Ahhh!" Was Wheatley's protest as Atlas passed him back to P-body, who had spun over the panel. "Anyway! I have something to tell you!" Wheatley started up again, watching nervously as Atlas shot a portal in front of them, sending both P-body and Wheatley hurdling through the air and over a vast pool of death-liquid. They landed in one of the test chambers, with Atlas following closely behind and taking care of the last of the turrets.

"THIS. STATEMENT. IS. FALSE!" Wheatley cried, desperately hoping his idea would work.

The lights flickered in the facility, followed by a blood-curdling scream that shook the PA system. GLaDOS was in monumental pain from the sound of it, and Wheatley was surprised that his idea worked.

Atlas and P-body stood in the confusion and looked around. They reenabled their hearing at this point, and wondered what had just transpired.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" was GLaDOS's final words as the facility came to a screeching halt, evident by the extinguished lights and the primal screams of pain.

There was a moment of silence before Wheatley piped up. "I…I did it!" He cheered from P-body's hands. "She's gone! Yes!" If he was able to later, he would do a twirl from his exuberance.

Suddenly, the lights flickered back on. The noises of the facility started up again, much to Wheatley's horror.

"Just kidding." Came GLaDOS's cold response. "I tried that on you, remember? I know that you're a moron, so it wouldn't affect you. But how would a weak little paradox like that affect me?" A sinister chuckle came out of the PA system, clearly indicating to all that Wheatley's idea, had in fact, not worked.

Atlas and P-body wasted no time in scurrying out of the room before it was locked up.

"You DO realize you're not going the right way, correct?" GLaDOS continued. "Also, Blue, Orange, even though I cannot force you to explo-be dismantled anymore, there are worse ways I can dismantle you. I suggest before you make me angrier than I already am, you drop the moron and wait right there."

Atlas and P-body ignored her and jumped into one of the pneumatic tubes above an elevator. They were sucked upwards and onwards, as Wheatley began to protest rather loudly that he wasn't a moron.

Their situation was not good, P-body rationalized. They had only ever been inside the test chambers, and they had no other way of navigating Aperature Science by themselves. She reasoned further that even though Wheatley had traveled the place for more than 200 years, he was still kind of a dumbass. She recalculated their chances of survival. She did not like that number. She followed Atlas, who was leading the way though the tube, pushing random junk out of their path, and noticed a fork ahead of them.

Atlas saw it first. He let out an alarmed robotic cry and grasped the sides of the tube, catching them on an indention where the different pieces were connected. He stopped, and felt P-body collide into him. She protested, and Wheatley was nearly knocked out of her grasp in the resulting bickering.

The trio stared into the tunnel of the tube. The fork let to two different places. Up, and down.

"We should go up! Up!" Wheatley suggested.

Atlas leaned toward P-body while keeping his grip on the sides. He made it plain that the tube leading upwards could very well be a trap, and if they were going to decide, then they had better do it fast because a vast amount of crap was being sucked toward them.

P-body and Wheatley glanced behind them and screamed. A rather large mass of turrets and weighted cubes were getting dangerously close to them. If a collision occurred, they would most likely not be able to survive from the resulting carnage. Panicking, the She and Wheatley began to scream at Atlas which path he should take.

Atlas ignored them both, rather inclined to make his own path. He quickly placed his feet in the indentions and held himself there. With strength he never knew he had, he slammed his fist into the side of the tube, effectively shattering it. Glass and plastics rained over him and he looked back to P-body and Wheatley, who were frozen mid-yell with shock. He raised his "eyebrow." Problem?

The hole was big enough for P-body to fit through, and as the pile of turrets and cubes came ever so closer, she climbed out and pulled Atlas with her. The mass shot through the tube right where they had been as soon as Atlas had gotten his last leg out. That was close.

They were safe from that for the moment, but now they were stuck on top, and there was not a whole lot to work with at this point.

There were no portal-capable surfaces that they could see, and the distance to the bottom was quite startling. There were wires that hung from a platform above them some distance away, but unless they could jump far, there was no way to progress. The Pneumatic tube took a sharp up and a down turn, so they couldn't easily climb it. Atlas glanced at P-body and Wheatley. What next?

"Hmm… Blue was not programmed for enough strength to break the pneumatic tubes. Fascinating." Came GLaDOS's indifferent voice, echoing throughout the vastness of the facility. "I'll have to take you apart later and see what caused it. In any case, I hope you know that all you've managed to accomplish is get even farther into the facility. If you're trying to escape, you're not doing a very good job."

P-body felt a sudden wave of aggression hit her. GLaDOS wanted to dismantle Atlas? She always said that, true, but the way she said it this time…P-body had never felt a stronger emotion than what she was feeling now. She shook with whatever emotion and narrowed her optic upwards. She had never been too fond of the supercomputer, but they way She spoke made her want to rip off Her central head/core.

"What's wrong, Orange? You appear to be angry with me for something. You know, I wasn't the one who started this. You are the ones who brought this on yourselves. However, that anger you feel, I wonder if I can restimulate it later when you've been taken apart and studied. For science." GLaDOS's mocking voice sang out.

It was Atlas's turn to be angry. He didn't mind so much GLaDOS's comment on his dismantling, but bringing P-body into it made him feel the same way she did. Angry.

He glanced around, avoiding eye contact, and noticed a way up. There was a small portal surface above them that he had somehow missed. He shot at it, and looked for another surface he could use. He saw it below them, very small and almost invisible, something he also evidently missed. He shot another portal at it, and looked to P-body, who was still eying the facility with rage. Wheatley looked around nervously, just hoping P-body could keep it together and not use him as an outlet for her anger.

Just as Atlas was about to motion to his portals, there was a loud scraping noise, followed by the familiar sounds of an aerial faith plate. Everyone wheeled around to see a large ball of garbage hurdle towards them. They screamed.

Atlas rushed into action, picked up P-body bridal-style, and jumped. He certainly hoped they would land in his portals, or they would have a very unpleasant landing.

Fortunately, they did, and were sent shooting out the other side, flying blindly through the air.

Hmm… Atlas had not thought this part out very well. But GLaDOS had.

A cylinder of blue light, the Excursion Funnel, caught them, suspending them in air for a brief second before moving them. All noticed that if they had been thrown a little farther, they would have made it to the other ledge. Now they were stuck, floating under the mercy of GLaDOS.

"That was fun." She told them. "But your constant obstinacies have gone far enough."

"Oh no… this is it…" Wheatley said weakly. "Now I'll never be able to…" He trailed off, and thought sadly of Chell, her pretty eyes, her determination, the way she could handle a portal gun like none other—wait, what? Why would he think those things? He became flustered. No, all he wanted to do was apologize! Because he had been terrible and she had been stunning, and amazing, and tall, and… By this point, the threat of death was completely out of his processor as he struggled to reassemble his thoughts.

Atlas let P-body go, and they both began to struggle to find some way to get out of the funnel.

GLaDOS laughed darkly. "You really don't know anything, do you?"

Suddenly Wheatley burst out. "I KNOW THAT I KNOW NOTHING AT ALL! BUT AT LEAST I'M TRYING!"

The excursion funnel flickered weakly. Atlas and P-body looked to each other. It was time to not die.

"What… You said…" GLaDOS began. Something sounded wrong with her. "You said…you know nothing…but…that's still knowing-GAHHHHH!" She let out a scream. "A Socratic paradox!"

Atlas and P-body were too busy trying to figure out a way off the beam to pay any attention. If they hadn't, their reaction would have mirrored GLaDOS's.

Wheatley, upon realizing for all the wrong reasons the impact of his statement, tried to defend himself. "No, Wait! I'm Lying! I do know something! Not nothing! So I'm lying!"

More screams were head as GLaDOS tried futilely to reason out his statement. "NOOOO….That's a Liar Paradox!" She felt her circuits begin to fry; there were so many things wrong but right with Wheatley's little idiotic outbursts.

P-body, meanwhile, found their way of escape. They passed by the loose wires that hung from above. She reached out to grab them, with Atlas holding onto her arm that held Wheatley. She signaled to Atlas, and he began climbing up. However, P-body couldn't move from her spot. Between holding onto Wheatley and the portal gun, she didn't have a free hand. She looked longingly up at Atlas who noticed this and stopped. He looked down at her and suggested very politely that she could easily drop Wheatley and be done with it. She glared back up at him, indicating that she was not going to do that. She had a better idea. Lodging Wheatley between her knees, she began to follow after Atlas, surprised that the core had little acknowledgement for their predicament. She ignored GLaDOS's pained screams and with Atlas's help, climbed up to the ledge.

"Ok, Ok. This next statement is true!" Wheatley continued his absurd little protest, unaware of the impact it truly had. "No wait, that statement was false!" His thoughts reeled once again, muddled by the image of Chell. He struggled to repress whatever strange attraction—no, it was merely a strong feeling of guilt—that Chell had imposed on him.

Another scream filled the air. "YOU MORON! SHUT UP!" GLaDOS shrieked.

"Well, unless it's opposite day today…" Wheatley reasoned, and then shook his optic frantically. No no no no no. He would be done with this right now.

With one last cry, GLaDOS shut down.

"Well, whatever. In any case, I am not moron." Wheatley stated, sure of himself, after finally sealing up any non-apologetic emotions he felt about…human…. He looked around. Where were they now? And why did he get the feeling that there was a lot less hate in the atmosphere than five minutes ago?

Atlas and P-body glanced around the room, which had become eerily quiet and still. Did something happen to GLaDOS?

Suddenly, a blip sounded on the loudspeaker, and a masculine pre-recorded voice spoke to them.

"Main system temporarily shut down. Seeking operational replacement now…"

Wheatley suddenly realized everything he had said. "Oooooh… I see those were all paradoxes…ah, silly me, I must've not noticed."

P-body looked to Atlas. So GLaDOS was offline? For how long? Did Wheatley seriously just shut her down? They needed to escape now, before anything else weird and illogical happened.

Atlas was about to agree, when suddenly the floor opened up beneath his feet, revealing a portal, which he promptly fell through.

"Operational Replacement core found." The voice said.

Panicking, P-body lunged forward into the portal, and landed on Atlas.

They were back in GLaDOS's control room. They spent so much time wandering around, only to be brought back to the very place they had started. Now what?

P-body got off of Atlas and looked around. GLaDOS was still suspended from the ceiling, only this time, she wasn't moving. Or yelling at her. Or dropping turrets on P-body. That was a first.

"Operational replacement core, are you ready?" came the voice.

"No!" came Wheatley's loud protest. "Not again…"

The voice ignored Wheatley's outburst and asked again. "Are you ready, replacement core?"

P-body turned to Atlas. He was the only other core in the room. Was he the replacement?

Atlas beeped in confusion.

"Vague answer interpreted as 'Yes'. Beginning replacement protocol."

Atlas looked in confusion to P-body. She shrugged, and looked to Wheatley for an explanation.

Wheatley was too busy remembering his shame to notice the situation. P-body rolled her optic. Great.

The floor under GLaDOS opened up and the robotic arms immediately began working on dismantling her. Both bots watched in extreme curiosity as Her main core/head was taken off.

Before Atlas had the time to crack a witty pun about losing one's head, the robotic arms turned on him, catching him by the legs and dragging him over to the same opening. He gave out a shout of protest and dropped his portal gun.

P-body immediately dropped Wheatley on the floor ("Ow! Hey!") and rushed over to Atlas. She grabbed his arms and struggled to keep him from being abducted by the strange arms.

The arms had other ideas, and attached to Atlas's core, ripping him out of his body-frame and sending P-body across the floor as they let go of Atlas's legs.

Atlas gave out a scream of pain as the robotic arms proceeded to attach him into GLaDOS's body.

P-body dropped Atlas's frame and rushed to him, forgetting her portal gun and Wheatley on the floor. She tried to fight off the arms and grab at Altas, but was thrown aside as the procedure came to an end.

There was a small Ding! And the process was complete.

Atlas groaned and rolled his optic in his head. That hurt more than he could have ever imagined anything to hurt. More than the time P-body tripped him off one of the edges that overlooked the liquid-death vats.

For once, he understood the vastness of the facility. He felt a rush, power, knowledge, leadership, all at his fingertips, if he could've had any. Boring. Too easy. Where was the challenge? He looked over at P-body, who stood stunned in his presence. That was a nice feeling.

"What happened?" Wheatley called. "I can't see! Pick me up please!" He called.

P-body snapped out of her trance and walked over to Wheatley to pick him up.

"Well, what—oh." Wheatley noticed Atlas is GLaDOS's position. "Uh…How does it feel?" He cringed, hoping Atlas wouldn't be contaminated by Her body.

Atlas shrugged, if it was possible. He felt fine. Powerful, but fine. He looked down at Wheatley. What were they to do now?

"Oh! I know, quick, call a service elevator to the surface down here for us!" Wheatley advised.

Atlas, with some difficulty, called one down, and opened it for them. He looked at them, and motioned to himself. What now?

"Hm...I don't suppose you'd want to stay there, do you?" Wheatley asked nervously, well aware that Atlas could be corrupted at any moment.

Atlas shook his optic. He beeped at P-body, telling her to try to disengage him as soon as he could set the autopilot option on the elevator. P-body complied, and set Wheatley and the two portal devices in the elevator. She strode over to Atlas and was about to disconnect him when Wheatley spoke up.

"Wait… Before we leave, could you access the Aperature Science test subject locator?"

Atlas and P-body questioned the nature of this question.

"Well, Che—the lady left the facility. Right?"

Both bots nodded slowly.

"So we should locate the lady before we leave, that way we'll know right where she is."

P-body and Atlas shared the same thought. Wheatley suggested a good idea. This was unexpected… Atlas fumbled with the inner workings of his new mind and with some difficulty managed to boot up the program, find Chell's test subject number, enter it in, and find her without blowing anything up.

A small display lit up on the upper part of GLaDOS's body. It showed a map and had a small blinking dot in the center.

"Where is that?" called Wheatley from the lift. "I can't see it from here!"

Atlas was hesitant to reply. P-body looked on with a sense of astonishment. The human who took down the facility and left GLaDOS forever embittered (not to mention murdering her), and was allowed to leave unharmed was THERE?

Atlas motioned for P-body to pick up Wheatley and show him. She did so, and brought him within range of the monitor.

Wheatley could not think for a moment. He didn't know how to take it. Emotions ran through his system. Sadness and regret being in the top 2. Chell did not deserve where she was. Not after all the bad things she had to go through because of himself and GLaDOS.

"Why is Chell there?" came Wheatley's quiet reply.

Atlas and P-body said nothing, but noted Wheatley's seriousness and shock.

Now more than ever Wheatley was convinced to see Chell, and redeem himself by saving her.

**A/N: Well, it took me a bit. So I hope Yall like. I tried to keep my author note off the top of the page, and shorter this time, as some dissent was expressed with them before. (I did try to make it neater!) anyway! Where in the world could Chell be? Pfft. I know. Next chapter I will be introducing Chell, which I'm excited about. I'm probably gonna piss off a lot of people when they learn where I stuck her. Oh well. **

**Also, just wanna say thank you to all those who reviewed, favorited, alerted, etc. I was not expecting that kind of reception when I wrote this fic, so thank yall so very much. I hope everyone looks forward to the next chapter.**


	4. Her Current Location

Life was a funny thing. One moment you're in a science facility testing some test rooms, then a mad psychotic AI is trying to gas you to death; you wake up hundreds of years later by cryogenic refrigeration by a small personality core you assume to be friendly, it betrays you, the previous mad AI becomes a friend, the new threat is vanquished, you're finally set free, and then the boys in white drag your ass off to another white-walled sterile environment.

That was exactly what Chell had gone through. She currently sat in said white-walled sterile environment. It was known as "a little slice of heaven" to the residents, and a "loony bin" to everyone of normal intelligence. Chell was of normal intelligence. She'd call it a loony bin if she could speak. Only she couldn't, and she was pretty sure that was part of the reason she was there in the first place and why she still remained there.

One of the other patients began to scream rather loudly his opinions on buttered toast, rousing Chell out of her thoughts. Yes, she was in the day room, where they let the other "mentally challenged individuals" have what they called "social time". Chell rolled her eyes. This place was stupid.

A couple of orderlies rushed towards the screaming man and carted him away. No one was fazed by the sudden decrease in numbers. Chell glanced around. Everyone in the building was crazy; even the orderlies and therapists. It reminded her so much of Aperture Science, but with more people and less intelligence. But that was ages ago, and she'd been here for some time now. Her therapist had told her only six months, but Chell felt it was longer than that.

Another Patient burst into tears, crying about a cat with a gun; she promptly fell out of her chair and soiled herself. Chell had no idea what these people smoked, and did not want to try.

Chell stretched her arms on the table in front of her. She usually spent her "social time" to herself, and just thought about things.

Chell remembered her adventures at AS. How could she forget? She rattled history by brining GLaDOS to her knees (if she had any) and took out the other mad AI, Wheatley. She stopped and frowned. Even after all this time she had no idea what to make of his betrayal. A part of her wanted to believe he had been corrupted and driven crazy by the power he had received. The other half hated him for screwing her over like he did.

Letting out a silent yawn, she recalled her first breath of fresh air in years and subsequent capture. She just stepped out of AS and had taken a few steps—glorious steps. It was wonderful to feel the dirt move under her feet, to hear the swishing of the grasses as the wind soared through it. The air was crisp and refreshing; Chell had felt like a child. She had laughed with glee and laid in the grasses, just happy to be out of the nightmare.

When she had her fill, realism hit her like a ton of bricks.

She had been asleep for hundreds of years. That meant no family, no records, no past. According to her current time period, she wouldn't even exist. Even if she could find some semblance of civilization, how was she to start a new life for herself if she had no records of ever existing? However, blind optimism coursed through her veins and told her that everything would be ok. Brimming with confidence, Chell, along with her old companion cube, had set out with a spring in her step and a bounce in her britches.

It was unfortunate for her that the certain town she happened across had had a bit of trouble with crime and general delinquency; everyone was set on high alert for anything suspicious-looking or out of the ordinary. Chell had fit both prerequisites; her strange white boots, unkempt appearance, mysterious foreign clothes, and above all else, her companion cube.

Her companion cube really must have pissed people off, and though Chell would probably never know, it was because they had received bomb threats the previous week with the same designs as the CC. In any case, the fuzz were called in and Chell was taken away.

While Chell had waited in a jail for a couple of days, the authorities inspected her "dangerous package" and found that it really WAS dangerous. Only it was not made of bomb-material, but full of poisons and toxins. (Only Aperture Science would)

Shit hit the fan, and Chell found herself in court, being accused of an attempt to poison the city's water supply. Her lawyer, who reminded her so much of a certain dim-witted personality core, pleaded her case that she was insane; she wasn't even speaking to defend herself, and couldn't even speak at all. He had further pointed out her strange manner of appearance; no sane person would have walked into a town on high alert for criminals dressed in her manner unless they were absolutely crazy.

It was at that point Chell had lost confidence in present human abilities. Clearly the IQ of the average person had dropped some since she had last walked around. It terrified her to think that she was the smartest person in that courtroom at the time.

But she had no time to mourn the losses humanity had suffered; she was sentenced to an insane asylum until "she was less crazy."

So Chell had been, for the next X amount of months, at the insane asylum, rotting away.

It was miserable. The patients with her were dangerous and truly crazy. She had no freedom here, and was constantly being psychoanalyzed by the orderlies or her therapist. She couldn't try and communicate with anyone—she was allowed no sharp objects, which seemed to include every writing tool known to man. Whenever she made an attempt to ask for one, she had no voice and had to mouth the words, her frantic waving only seemed to solidify the idea she was insane.

But the longer she stayed there, the more she felt she was becoming crazy. Every night she would have nightmares about her experiences at Aperture. She would dream she was being suffocated by GLaDOS, shot at by turrets, falling endlessly through her portals, and watching Wheatley betray her over and over again. Sometimes she woke up screaming, only she couldn't; she had no voice to scream with. She had to remind herself that she was sane, and that what she experienced really happened; it wasn't all just a dream, and she wasn't a patient that had been there since time began, creating vivid fantasies that let her escape from the reality that she was crazy. It was odd, but this nuthouse made her feel crazier than what Aperture had ever done to her or made her feel.

Suddenly she missed Aperture Science. Even though she had constantly been the target of certain death, she felt alive and somewhat free. With her portal gun she could go anywhere, her long fall boots protectively guarding her feet, Wheatley and her teaming up to vanquish the evil GLaDOS so they could truly be free…

Chell sighed again. Wheatley… She still couldn't get over how he turned against her. She desperately wanted to know the truth. Was he merely corrupted and just lashing out from the infection? Or had he planned it from the beginning, only using her to gain power for himself? She laid her head on the table in front of her. It killed her to not know. Wheatley was someone who she had deeply trusted and had a certain fondness for. But she probably never would know the truth. She was stuck in a nuthouse; Wheatley was orbiting the earth, lost forever.

Escape from this facility was impossible.

Or was it?

Chell brightened. She was at least ten times smarter than all the people in here, including the orderlies. If she played her cards right, she could outwit the entire staff and free herself.

It was a long shot. But she had to try. Otherwise, she would be stuck in this hell hole for the rest of her life, rotting away and slowly losing her sanity. And that would not do.

Someone grabbed her shoulder, rousing her out of her thoughts. She spun around to find an orderly looking at her.

"Come on dear, Social Time's over."

Chell gave no reply, but got up from her seat at the table and proceeded to be herded out of the break room with her other fellow psycho-ward patients.

"…lobotomy…"

Chell stopped suddenly and whipped her head around. It was her therapist speaking. What about a lobotomy?

"Yeah, I've got this one lady…doesn't say anything, never makes eye contact, textbook example of crazy."

So he was talking about her. She evaded the people pushing by and got closer. He was in his office, talking on the phone.

"Sure, sure. I can sign her up. She's got no family, no records. They made me responsible for her well-being, so I don't really care. …When? In five days? Ok-ok, I'll have her there and ready."

That slimy little-! Chell wanted to barge in and beat the man with his own phone. He was going to lobotomize her? What the hell was this bullshit? Chell was whisked away by an orderly before she could display her strong disagreements.

The orderly chained her to the bed and closed the door as he left.

So that was it. Chell would become a vegetable. She heard Wheatley's voice in the back of her mind: _nobody tells ME anything. Noooo. Why should they tell me anything? Why should I be kept informed about the life functions of the ten thousand bloody test subjects I'm supposed to be in charge of?... And whose fault do you think it's going to be when the management comes down here and finds ten thousand flipping vegetables?_ Chell would have laughed if she wasn't about to become a "flipping vegetable;" Wheatley's quirks always made her want to chuckle. She wondered if Wheatley would have said that about her if he hadn't woken her. She wondered what he would have said it to her right now… But Wheatley wasn't here, not that he could help her this time even if he was.

She had no one but herself. And in three days it wouldn't matter. Nothing would.

So she had to escape. If she could shake two mad powerful AIs in her lifetime, why couldn't she escape from this madhouse? None of the people here could match GLaDOS's incredible mental prowess, and Chell was beginning to think even Wheatley could've outsmarted them.

Resolve formed in her head. She was going to leave. But first, she needed a plan.

Chell lay down on her bed. She wasn't tired just yet. She wouldn't let herself sleep until she was out of this hell hole.

She had five days to escape from this messed up place. Either she would become a vegetable, die from lack of sleep, or be free.

Mind racing, she began to formulate a plan…

**A/N: Not my strongest chapter. I know… But it was necessary! I'm not sure how realistic Chell's capture was, but I hope it was at least absurd. This chapter was short as well. It needed to be.**

**Confession time! I've never played the half-life series. In fact, I never knew Portal took place in the same "reality" as HL until just a few months ago. It wasn't important at the time, so I put it out of my mind. Which is why there's no mention of Black Mesa or the combine. Yeah… AU. Some of the reviewers reminded me of the connections of the two games when they tried to surmise where Chell was, but I had already formed a plot in my head. However, depending on how well I can do stuff good, I may include BM later, as a plot device.**

**Quick shout-out to ****Ripred,**** who guessed Chell's (more or less) correct location. Bravo, good sir, bravo… And another one to ****x Mostly Harmless x****! Just as I was about to submit this I got your review and lol'd. You guys are good… I'll have to step it up…**

**Right! Thank you very much for your time! And reading this! That too! I look forward to seeing all of yall in the next chapter, where some stuff happens and maybe even more.**


	5. Driving Plot

Wheatley looked away from the computer monitor. He said nothing, which was uncharacteristic of his personality. P-body and Atlas glanced at each other awkwardly. Should they say something?

P-body was about to pipe up when they heard Wheatley.

"This is amazing! We can go to the outside world!"

Atlas jumped in GLaDOS's body and P-body nearly fell out of hers. Each wondered what the change in attitude was.

"Well, We know where Chell is now," Wheatley said brightly. "All it is will be a matter of us getting there, walking up to her, saying a few words, and then WHAMMO! Forgiveness. And then we can get her out of the loony bin!" Wheatley nodded his optic up and down, signifying how pleased he was at himself.

Atlas let out a growl of impatience. Were they leaving then? He wanted to get out of the body.

"Ah. Right. Ok. Well," Wheatley glanced back at the elevator. "Hm… how to get you out of that and into that…"

[Auto-pilot activated]

P-body and Wheatley glanced at Atlas, who had activated his old body and was now dislodging his core out of GLaDOS's. He signaled that they had about 3 seconds before the lift would activate without them on it. Without a second thought, both bots rushed towards the elevator, with P-body carrying Wheatley.

The elevator's doors slammed shut and they began to move.

"Finally we're leaving, Chell…" Wheatley murmured quietly to himself. 'I may have thought you had brain damage once and truly belonged there, but after what we both have been through and what amazing things I've seen you do, there's no way you should have ever been put there...'

Atlas and P-body glanced at him and then each other; surreptitiously the turret grasped the other's hand. Free at last.

…

It was not five minutes later when the three emerged from the lift, completely shaken and almost battle-scarred from their perilous ascent.

"I…I was not expecting that…. What…I don't…" Wheatley gasped, clearly in a state of alarm and confusion.

Atlas and P-body looked just as rattled as he did, each covered in scratches that came from the gratuitous amounts of bullets that were launched at them.

"I mean, who puts bloody TURRETS facing the elevator doors? It's pointless! MAD!" Wheatley screeched incredulously.

P-body took that moment to sit down, clearly haunted from the ordeal. Atlas joined her, leaning on her side, wishing to never repeat such an awful near-"death" experience like that ever again. P-body's optic narrowed at Atlas. This was his fault.

They had stepped on the elevator, drunk off the feeling of sweet victory, and had ascended in exuberance. Without warning, the elevator had stopped briefly, revealing four lone turrets who were about to open fire. As the three cringed in desperation, each fearing the end, the turrets relaxed, and a beautiful melody spilled forth. It had lured them into such a state of bliss and relaxation, even as the elevator ascended and more turrets appeared. Not a one was terrified at the sight.

However, at that time, Atlas had been drumming his finger on the trigger of the portal gun, merely bobbing to the beat of the music (he had never heard such a wonderful sound!), when he tapped a little too hard, and launched his portals across the room.

One thing led to another, and there was chaos of turrets flying randomly through the air, bullets filling the air like confetti (dangerous explode-y gunpowder confetti), and screams. Oh the screams they heard. Without warning, rockets came exploding forth, launched by the animal king turret, which had been knocked off guard by the smaller ones. The lift they were in became Swiss cheese in seconds. Somehow each rider had managed to dodge most of the bullets, and had beat on the gears to turn faster so they would not share the same cheesy fate as their steed.

Even as they continued to rise, the sounds of tiny screams and bullets could be heard from the dark depths. Any good feelings from before were now completely dissolved into a sense of realism and 'holy shit we almost died just then.'

Back in the present, P-body smacked Atlas's stupid head, sending his core flying into a wall. He nearly got them killed because of a slip of a finger! She beeped angrily at him, furious with their situation.

Atlas in turned slapped at her; his core controlled the movements of his body from afar. It wasn't his fault, he was caught off guard! They continued their antics loudly, neither one submitting to the other.

Wheatley sighed to himself. "We really should be going. What if She comes back online?"

The cooperative robots glanced at each other. He had a point. Atlas's body went to go retrieve its core and P-body looked to Wheatley for any guidance, knowing how strange that phrase was when it was said out loud. "Say, um…Blue…no…" Wheatley fumbled around for a bit. "You know what; I don't actually know either of your names… I'm sorry…oh, this is rather awkward…" He added quickly, realizing he should have asked a long time ago.

Both beeped simultaneously, giving their names statically; P-body hiding a sense of hurt, Atlas hiding the desire to punch him.

"Well, um, Atlas," Wheatley began nervously, sensing the aggression of the other personality sphere. "Do you remember the location of Chell's?" Atlas nodded, rolling his core in its socket to make sure all was right. "About how far away is it?" Wheatley continued.

Atlas looked thoughtful for a moment, clearly organizing his thoughts. He turned around and pointed at the wall opposite everyone, letting out a series of low pitched noises to signify how far away.

Wheatley looked crestfallen. "But that will take…five, is it five?" Atlas and P-body nodded, already having done the simple math needed to calculate the amount of time required to travel to their destination. "Err, right. Five days, then. There has to be some way to get there quicker!" Wheatley looked wildly around, not finding anything to fit his particular need.

P-body and Atlas followed suit and looked around the inside of the little room they were in. Funny, was _this_ the outside? It was a lot smaller than either thought it would have been. There sure was a lot of hype about how awesome it would be out there…

"Well, nothing in here, let's go out that door!" Wheatley concluded and motioned to the door in front of them.

Oh. There's a door. Right.

Atlas rolled his optic. Of course there was more than just the tiny room. The outside world was beyond the door in front of them. P-body glanced at him; her hands were full, she wasn't going to be able to open the door.

Atlas let out an oddly human-like sigh (Wheatley noticed this. For machines, they sure acted more human than not…) and strode over to the exit and opened it. All three stepped out and froze.

A ray of sunshine and gentle wind greeted them. Blue sky and fluffy white clouds blanketed their upwards vision. At their feet, a patch of brown dirt and a field of flowing wheat.

For three bots that had never ventured outside, this was incredible. As the sun shone down, they could feel the subtle warmth invade their cores and the breeze waft them in a state of sensation.

Absolutely compelled to celebrate their newfound freedom, P-body thrust a very startled Wheatley into Atlas's equally startled arms and jumped into the wheat. Laughing like a freak, she rolled and buzzed excitedly, feeling the warm sun, the cool breeze, and the strange feel of the plants against her metal hull.

Atlas and Wheatley watched on, neither speaking but thinking the same thing. _Women… _

P-body sat up abruptly. She was done now. (though maybe she would do something like this again later when no one was watching. Usually when she did strange things she was greeted by either a cutting comment from GLaDOS or an awkward stare from Atlas) She glanced sheepishly over to Wheatley and Atlas. What now?

"I'm not sure. But we should definitely start to-! Hey!" Wheatley was interrupted by Atlas, who had spotted something and wheeled around suddenly. Wheatley followed his gaze. "Is that a….?"

A piece of something stuck out from behind the shack they were in front of. Cautiously, Atlas walked towards it. P-body jumped up and followed, curious to see what had her companion so transfixed on.

Atlas stopped when he had full view of the mysterious thing. He tilted his head, perplexed by the strange mechanical thing in front of him. What exactly was it?

Wheatley began searching his memory banks for any reference as to what exactly the strange four-wheeled machine was.

P-body stood there, puzzled by it, but soon felt annoyed. Why did this piece of appliance capture the rapt attention of her companion? It looked ridiculous! An L-shaped body that sat on four wheels with a door that led into a small compartment—stupid, absolutely stupid. She crossed her arms impatiently. Shouldn't they be leaving already?

Atlas ignored her, handing Wheatley, who was still searching, to her and inspected the strange device up close. It was far larger than he was, black, though a bit dirty, but appeared sleek and impressive underneath the filth. Atlas ran a metallic hand down its length. The sensation sent tingles through his body. He peeked into the window on its side. There were two seats, a strange console that sat in front and middle to them, and the seat on the left had a strange circle jutting out in front of it. Though he had no Idea what it was, he knew he wanted it.

"Ah! It's an automobile! Livid! I never thought I'd get to see one like this!" Wheatley, done sifting through his vast references, suddenly called out, drawing Atlas's attention away. "This certain automobile is referred to as a 'truck' by humans. Hmm…judging by the looks, I'd say it's been in much use, but has been unused for some while…"

A truck was it? Atlas liked the word. It had a certain ring to it, though he did not know why.

P-body gave a dissatisfied huff. What a stupid thing for humans to create. What were they even supposed to use it for? Or were they just supposed to stand around and ogle it like idiots all day?

Atlas shot her a look. Whatever. He liked it. Looking down, he noticed a small handle and opened the door.

"Ah! I know! We can use it! Humans 'drive' these things and they go fast, even covering great distances in only minutes! We can see Chell even sooner!" Wheatley looked positively ecstatic, and P-body would have shared the sentiment, if she didn't decidedly hate the damned thing so much.

She wasn't even sure why she had so much hostility towards it. By all means, it was a perfectly useful apparatus—it made traveling so much quicker and easier, she could see why humans liked them. But just the way Atlas _touched_ it, it made her reeling with…she couldn't place the emotion, but she knew it made her want to blow the cursed machine up into little tiny bits so Atlas would stop his ocular obsession with it.

Atlas climbed into the front seat and sat there, unsure of what to do. He motioned over to P-body and Wheatley, urging her to bring him over.

"Well, come on then…" Wheatley nudged after P-body didn't react. Grudgingly she strode over and stood to the side. "There should be another door on the other side…" Wheatley noted, and with some prodding from Atlas, she reluctantly traveled to the other side, where Atlas had opened the passenger side door for her.

P-body got in, and though the seat on the truck was rather comfortable, she refused to like it. Atlas put his hands on the steering wheel. He felt pleasant sensations flow through him. He knew he was supposed to do something with it, but what? Glancing downwards, he noticed strange protrusions from the floor of the machine right where his feet hung. He turned to Wheatley, expecting some way to make it start.

"Well," Wheatley began, strenuous researching on his part evident, "I think keys are needed to turn a piece by the steering wheel."

Atlas looked, and P-body decided she had had enough. She got out of the truck and walked away, in a huff. Men…

Atlas was about to start after her, wondering why she was so angry when they had the perfect means of transportation given to them, when Wheatley chuckled next to him.

"This is so amazing!" he gushed. "We'll find Chell in a snap!" he giggled to himself, and Atlas prodded him gently, forgetting about P-body. Where were they to find the "keys"?

Wheatley looked around in stunned silence. He wasn't sure. Usually a human had them—oh. "I don't know." Wheatley admitted, looking down, rather crestfallen. "If they aren't in the-" processing! "-Ignition, then someone will most likely have them. A human, I mean."

Atlas turned to face him. So that was it. They had the perfect (P-body scoffed rather loudly) means of traveling, but without the keys, they couldn't use the damn thing. Atlas looked positively crushed. He wouldn't be able the drive the wondrous contraption. P-body smirked to herself. That was that. Now Atlas could stop touching it and they could be on their way, never to see it again.

"Well, maybe if I just hack it…" Wheatley muttered, unsure of how to even do such a thing.

"What the fuck do you kids think you're doing!"

A sudden voice made all three bots jump. What was that?

Atlas glanced through the window on his side and stared. A strange fleshy pink thing dressed in a blue material was running towards them. He looked very angry and the personality core turned to Wheatley, not sure how to handle the situation. Wheatley looked just as confused as he did, and P-body leaned back into the truck to get a better look.

"Get the hell out of my truck, or I'll blast your fucking heads off!" The human screamed at them.

Atlas and P-body looked horrified. This deranged, smelly, dirty, angry creature was a human? He appeared to be holding a metal stick of some sort, pointed threateningly at them. From his appearance, Wheatley ascertained that he was a farmer who had been checking on his plants. That would explain the truck's present location...

"This is not good…" Wheatley cowered in his seat. "Ok! Just act natural! No sudden movement; humans hate that!" he cautioned them. "We just, let's just step out of the truck. And then maybe he won't kill us."

Atlas and P-body did so and stood before the human, P-body holding Wheatley as he shook furiously.

The man let out a gasp of terror. "What the hell-?" He fired his metal stick, and the explosive bullets managed to miss both robots and crash into the ground, up heaving a mound of dirt into the air. "What the hell are you things!" The man was clearly panicked at that point, and began to fire randomly.

The bullets hit Atlas in the arms and legs, but did nothing. The turrets back at the facility did far more than the human and his tiny little stick.

Wheatley, sensing his distress, tried his best to calm him down. "N-now, good huma-sir, please, if you'll just bear with us, we won't-" He never got to finish. The man suddenly fell over backwards onto the ground.

P-body let out a gasp of terror. What happened to him?

"I…don't…" Wheatley was at a loss for words. "Maybe he's dead? Either way, it's a good thing he's down. He won't hurt us now. He was the owner of the truck!" Wheatley began to shake with excitement. "That means he has the keys! We can drive his truck out of here! We just need to find his keys!"

P-body rolled her eyes in exasperation. This again? They couldn't even drive the truck, not one of them knew how, and even if Wheatley did, he had no limbs to use to drive.

While she was ranting, Atlas had already stridden over to the man, gazing at him intently. He was hairy all over, and looked wrinkled. He noted how thin and frail he looked and thought back to what GLaDOS had talked about being killed by a human. Atlas couldn't fathom it. The creature in front of him barely registered as a threat anymore, and not even while awake. But as Atlas continued observing the fallen man, he noticed a small shiny object attached to the material on his midsection. He detached it and looked at it curiously. What was it? It had a metallic tint to it, and had a strange and jagged edge. He glanced back over the Wheatley and was not at all surprised to hear P-body still ranting. He held it up so they could see.

"Oh! Brilliant! That's the key! Now come on before he wakes up (if he's not already dead) and let's go!" Wheatley twitched with anticipation. Finally… finally… all their problems were solved; they had means of quick transportation, two robots who could probably figure out how to drive, and soon they would get to Chell, who would forgive him now with ease since he had managed to come back and save her.. Now he just needed to figure out how to spring Chell out of the nuthouse without being spotted by any other humans.

Atlas climbed back into the truck and found the slot for the key. He inserted and turned it; suddenly the truck sprung to life and began rumbling in a low steady beat. Atlas was beside himself in ecstasy. What an amazing contraption. Now he just needed to make it move. P-body climbed in and continued to sulk over Atlas's intense fondness for the stupid thing.

"From what I've seen, you need to-" Wheatley began, but Atlas held up a hand for silence. He wanted to figure out how to drive it. How hard could it be?

…

Hundreds of miles away, a certain science research facility dedicated for the sole purpose of science things, was examining a strange box seemingly built for the sole purpose of companionship. The workers had obtained the cube after many periods of bribing, under-the-table dealings, murders, and other various dark things, and had decidedly come to the conclusion it was from their old rival of 230 years ago, Aperture Science. Each scientist had been working day and night ever since their first possession of the cube to scout the point of origin, which would hopefully lead to the present location of that facility. They had been very unsuccessful. Even though they had each been promised a very pleasant share of wealth, and the matter of obtaining said wealth relied heavily on success.

One of the brighter ones had suggested finding out how the cube had come into the hands of the feds. He further figured that since the cube had no clear way of transporting itself, something or someone must have brought it with them upon entrance of the city. All they had to do was find the person or thing who brought it, make them retrace their steps to where they first got it, and there they would find Aperture, or at least another link to it.

He was promptly fired for being a smartass. This is Black Mesa, dammit, not a comedy ring.

After the asshole was finished cleaning out his office, the rest of the scientists stopped jeering at him long enough to get back to work before they too met the same fate.

Many days later, they had ascertained the origin of the first sighting of the cube. Apparently it had been brought in by a woman of questionable sanity and questionable taste. The woman had been convicted of attempting to poison the town's water supply (something that had been attempted before by various criminals) with a strange foreign cube-shaped device adorned with hearts. Her court-appointed sentence led her into an insane asylum where she was scheduled to be lobotomized in five days' time.

Which would be very soon.

Panic broke out among the scientists. They needed to find this person before five days was over. Otherwise, none of them would get their bonus and would more than likely lose their jobs due to failure for compliance with science. Immediately they called upon some of Black Mesa's nameless agents to track the woman down and bring her to them. For science.

…

"A-aren't we going a tad fast, Atlas?" Wheatley screamed from his seat on P-body's lap.

The truck gave a lurch as Atlas swerved to avoid a grazing cow, oblivious to the imminent danger present. Charging through more wheat plants, Atlas narrowed an optic and merely pressed on the gas pedal with a greater force.

P-body let out a dissatisfied huff. Maybe she should be behind the wheel and drive for a while as Atlas clearly had no idea what he was doing.

Atlas spun the wheel once more to avoid another ill-placed bovine, and kindly asked her to just shut up and let him drive, woman.

P-body let out another irritated noise and told him that he didn't even know where he was going anymore. They should stop and get directions before they get any more lost, or waste any more gasoline, for that matter.

Atlas was about to respond when he took his optic off the front to glare at her; his simple mistake caused the truck to veer wildly for a moment, and then aim straight for a nearby tree.

"DEAR G-" Wheatley attempted to scream out just before impact. Atlas and P-body quit glaring at each other long enough to see the impending doom, but not react to it.

_BAM! _The front of the truck smashed into the tree, crumpling like tissue paper and causing the airbags to deploy, albeit rather weakly. All three robots sat among the echo of the smash and the gunpowder from the airbags awkwardly before attempting to move.

Thankfully, all riders were wearing their seatbelts when the automobile careened into the botanic stalk, so none were too badly injured. Wheatley, however, was rather shaken from the experience, and could only sputter terrified noises while Atlas and P-body climbed out of the truck to inspect the damage caused. Suddenly the truck decided it had had enough misuse and promptly burst into flames.

Atlas and P-body jumped with shock, Wheatley managed to recover from the crash long enough to scream "Oh my—RUN!"

So they did. Which definitely was a good thing indeed; the truck then exploded, showering the field with bits of flaming metal and other various pieces of truck.

It was another moment before anyone said anything.

"Well, there went that idea." Wheatley said sullenly.

P-body whacked Atlas across his core with her portal gun ("Careful! Those aren't toys!" Wheatley cried.) and chided him for being stupid with their only method of quick transportation. Atlas, mourning the loss of such a beautiful device, was unresponsive to the sudden impact of the gun. He merely stooped down to pick up a piece of remaining unscorched truck and hold it sadly in his hand. P-body immediately felt a sense of pity and pat him on the core. It would be alright. They could just walk the rest of the way.

Atlas looked up at P-body, her orange optic looking down lovingly at him. He never realized how pretty it was, especially in the light of the outside. P-body looked down at him, satisfied he was looking at her with the same look he had been giving the truck. Slowly she reached for his hand…

"Um, hello! Not to interrupt your moment or anything, but we really need to be going now…" Wheatley piped up; clearly intent on moving along, since the sun was now starting to set below the horizon.

The two cooperative units gave a start. Right. They should be going now. With that, the three bots started out to Chell's location.

'Chell…'

-Night of the 1st day; 108 hours remain-

**A/N: So, after a lot of complications, I present to you, chapter 5 of this thing. **

**I'm not sure if including Black Mesa was a good Idea, but I'm just gonna roll with it. Also, no, I'm not going to introduce any HL characters, and if I can help it, no OCs will be introduced either. I dislike OCs greatly, so I do not wish to include them.**

**Also! I feel the need to include some shout-outs to my greatest Portal inspirations:**

**X_Mostly Harmless_X (Her story "Wheatley's Second Chance is amazing, and you should definitely check it out. She's also got another story in the works, or so it looks like, that seems really good.)**

**Sorida (Forgiveness is AMAZING and you simply must read it, or you're not a human being.)**

**Witchy Bee (I love both of her portal stories, all she needs to do is update more :D)**

**CrystalLotus98 (Any of her portal stories. :3)**

**Ok, I'm done. Thank you for reading! I appreciate it so much! Much more than you can imagine! Feel free to leave a comment or a critique for me. I do so enjoy reading them~**

**Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go write the next chapter of Wanting More…**


End file.
